- The sales of IT products and services in Russia increased by 4.4% y-o-y to RUB 696.6bn (€9.41bn) in 2016. In terms of euro, last year the contraction of market value was 5.0% y-o-y. The valuation done in euro better characterises market performance. The hardware and significant part of software solutions are imported to Russia and their prices almost directly depend on the exchange rate.

- At the same time, last year the contraction of the market was not as sharp as in 2014 and 2015 when annual decline in euro reached respectively 16.1% and 30.8%. The sales of some IT solutions stabilized in 2016 whereas some segments of the market even showed the recovery of the demand. The market is now expected to bounce back by 12% in euro terms in 2017 to reach approx. €10.5bn.

- In H2 2014 and throughout 2015, the sharp devaluation of rouble caused an increase in hardware and software prices. This inflated nominal value of the market in 2015 and partially in 2016. Concurrently, by summer 2016 the vendors finalised the adjustment of their prices and with stronger rouble at the end of last year the prices even started to decline in Q1 2017.

- In 2015, Russia approved a law which gives priority to local software in public procurements and allows the purchase of the software of global vendors only if there are no local analogues. This law came into force in January 2016 and is expected to impact market structure. Similar restrictions to imported hardware are planned for 2017.

- The Russian IT market remains corporate oriented. The corporate sector accounted for 51% of total IT spending in the country in 2016 and for 49% in 2015.